The young guns of the Houston Rockets have been flying this season but the comments of their coach Ime Udoka may have caused them problems.
The Rockets, on a three-game losing streak, faced a Brooklyn Nets side that sat with a 17-33 record. Considering the Rockets’ 32-18 start in a competitive Western Conference you’d expect just one winner.
However, the Nets, who took confidence from their 98-110 win over the Rockets in their previous game caused yet another upset.
In a low-scoring game, the Nets secured a narrow 99-97 win with Keon Johnson top-scoring for the Eastern Conference side with 22, he spoke after the game on how Udoka’s put-down of the Nets had fired them up.
There is no hiding the struggles of the Nets this season, especially since the departure of the influential Dennis Schroder who has struggled since joining the Golden State Warriors.
While the return of D’Angelo Russell has provided a small boost the team are still struggling to find their feet.
Nets GM Sean Marks has not tried to hide the fact that the team are more focused on the future than winning games this season, yet the comments of Rockets coach Udoka have certainly fired up the Nets who have won their last three games.
Udoka referred to the Nets as a ‘low-level team’ and it motivated the group with Johnson saying: “Everybody took it personal, just because we come in every day and compete… Just to read something like that, it was just a lot of fuel on the fire.”
While losing Schroder has been a big loss the Nets still have star quality on their roster, the main issue has been keeping stars fit and on the court at the same time.
Jordi Fernandez has been without Bogdan Bogdanovic, Cam Johnson, Cam Thomas and Ben Simmons to name a few, yet somehow the side has managed three straight wins.
A back-to-back over the Rockets indicates that there is hope for the Nets’ future despite this season already proving somewhat of a right-off in terms of playoff potential.
The issue the Nets have is keeping hold of stars in a struggling team, center Nic Claxton is being touted as a potentially perfect addition for the LA Lakers by Richard Jefferson.
With the trade deadline just a day away the Nets will be desperate to hold onto the core of their side as they look to build for next season.
